Stuck at 400 ELO and I've been playing for a year.

u should prob practice openings and learn opponent patterns

Hello , please do not practice openings as this is very wrong . Find the coach and learn how to learn!

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I would like to add that many talented players left chess because of not having the coach at the start . Being confused and stuck will lead to disappointment and frustration . Hire the coach people

Buddy there's no shame in being 400 elo I'm 400 elo and I beat my brother who's 1000 elo sometimes you just go against people who are on the path to power as I call it or people who really are wonderful at chess and can't really be stopped to technically 400 isn't even that bad also please just don't try Sicilian defense it can be easily destroyed

This comment doesn't make sense to me. Italian game is my favourite opening and I was able to go in 3 months from 230 rating (the lowest) to 500. Checkout my stats. It takes longer to arrive to 1000. At the beginning probably whatever opening is OK. I found Italian Game easy to remember. Moreover, I think the best source of info for this opeining is the Playlist of Chess Factor dedicated to it. It's free.
I am not always perfect to play it, sometime I lose with white. But I like it.

Im def agree I used to be 1600 elo but I lost my account and I feel like these 400 elo players r so much better than they used to be but a lot of the time as a beginner Sicilian isn't all that bad because after playing u only have a few pieces left to develop a long with a pretty decent pawn structure which is hard enough to overcome as a decent elo imagine the 400 players figuring it out also if u want to learn the Sicilian I would definitely look into it deeper its very good and its one of my favorites, I'm still not too good at it tho.

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I think it's just joever for you ngl maybe hop on the puzzles and the lessons?

230 is not the lowest rating, 100 is. Also the italian is very common and most people know how to play against it.

maybe you hear this all of the time but do puzzles

You're absolutely right — for beginners, principles far outweigh the importance of memorizing specific openings like the Italian.

In fact, your observation is quite aligned with the approach of many strong coaches and classical players

What Matters More Than Openings:

• Opening principles like:

  • Develop pieces quickly

  • Control the center

  • Don’t move the same piece twice early

  • King safety (early castling)

• Tactical sharpness: Recognizing forks, pins, skewers, etc.

• Basic strategy and endgame fundamentals

• Understanding common pawn structures

This is my student Vincent from the USA progress https://www.chess.com/stats/live/rapid/vr_king/0, and he is 10 years old now.

Learn exactly how to think in the opening, middlegame and endgame — this is what I teach.
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

I play sicilian and I'm only 400. What I mean is that I play 1.... c5 and then make it up!

Players around 400 dont seem to leave many pieces hanging or dont take advantage of hanging piece. That seems to be people under 250.

advice advice advice Everyone gives advice --do puzzles, don't do puzzles, learn openings, don't learn openings, learn tactics don't learn tactics, get a teacher, don't get a teacher -- when you at the bottom, say 400 and below it's all to much to get your head around,

you would think that web site like chess.com would have built a teaching system that actually works to give a straight way to improve, not that useless teaching lesson system they have now

Hi everyone,

Back in 2021, I went from 0 to 500 Elo in Rapid chess in just 3 months. I’ve shared my journey, tips, and lessons learned in this article:

👉 Breaking Through – A Beginner's Guide to Reaching 500 Elo in Rapid Chess

I’d love to hear your thoughts—feel free to leave a comment or reaction on the article!

Thanks and happy playing! ♟️

Well, I commend your efforts, but people whose ELO is under 500 don't have the skills to review and analyze a game. If they did, they wouldn't have a ELO of under 500.

Your article reminds me of my high school senior year wrestling coach. I had changed schools and the coach at the new school (a soccer coach who volunteered to coach wrestling) insisted that everyone had to do a inside standup their first move from bottom. He said that if anyone thought otherwise they would have to wrestle him and beat him to prove that we could do another first move. This guy was 6'3" and about 240 pounds. I told him (I wrestled at 157) that I would do whatever move I felt was best against my opponent, but usually it was an outside switch. I said this in front of everyone at a team meeting. So now the guy had to put up or shut up. We all go to the gym and of course I took the bottom position while he took top. At the whistle I hit the switch (that he knew was coming), locking his wrist at the same time and slammed his face to the mat I then went up top, put him in a 1/4 nelson and baited him to push up against it. I hit him with a pancake slam and pinned his fat butt. This is all true. I did what ever move I wanted to that season. You can't tell people what pieces they shouldn't move X amount of times and that bishops should be moved before knights or vice a versa. You don't have the experience to give anyone advice on chess except for 1. develop your pieces. 2. Try to control the center. 3. Blunder check as best as possible for their level.

I would hold off with giving chess advice until you are at 2000.

Maybe try the king's pawn opening